I missed some items in Morning Shorts and the local elections roundup, and others have popped up since then, so I’ll add ‘em now…

* Senator Murphy to host online chat this evening on his bill that would ban access to “social networking” Websites in certain public facilities.

Under the proposed legislation sponsored by 27th District state Sen. Matt Murphy, all public libraries and schools in Illinois would have to prohibit access to sites such as My Space, Facebook and personal blogs from computers.

The proposal, which Murphy’s office says is the only one in the nation that calls for a complete ban on these sites, has been a hot topic since it was introduced Feb. 9. It has since been referred to the rules committee.

Murphy’s live online discussion will be held 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday at his blog, senmattmurphy.blogspot.com. The freshman senator will answer questions people have on his bill.

Be there or be square.

* Environmentalists are near a meltdown over plans to recycle nuclear fuel an hour southwest of Chicago

* Charlie Johnston: GOP Senate Race Reality Check

* Bill Baar: Jesse Jackson Jr to Todd Stroger: there are consequences to a vote

* Slusher: Sticky issue of putting ideological labels on political candidates

* Rosemont gaming license still in play

* Governor’s backlog of clemency requests draws fire

* ArchPundit thinks the story on Daley paying $100 to students for election day work was seriously flawed.

* “Today, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law released a new report finding that Illinois’s campaign finance system is broken and badly in need of reform.” [From a press release]

* Alone among major Midwestern states, Illinois places no restrictions on campaign contributions, allowing unlimited donations from any source.

* Disclosure laws, supposedly the bulwark against corruption instead of contribution limits, are easily evaded.

* The State Board of Elections has been hamstrung by partisan gridlock and has failed to enforce the law. Wary of conducting investigations and resolving cases that could have political ramifications, the Board has signaled that campaign finance laws can be evaded without repercussion.

* The report also finds that Illinois is the only state in the Midwest that has no public campaign finance system of any kind. Under a public financing system candidates agree to limit campaign spending in exchange for campaign financing provided by the state – either through matching funds or an outright grant.

* Mayor Daley’s last TV ad of the season…